Has the rest of the country heard of William & Mary or does VA Tech have more recognition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area and I heard of William and Mary well before I heard of VT. (Actually I think the first time I heard of it was probably after the shooting.)

Same. Definitely had never heard of VT before moving to VA.

Although I will add, most people don't know schools outside their own state unless the schools are Harvard-level famous. I went to U of M which was highly ranked in my field, tried to get a job in CA, and got a ton of questions about why I couldn't get into the local Cal State.

No you didn't.

I definitely believe this.

I'm the U of M alum. Why would I lie about this? I was interviewing in the Bay Area (where I'm from) and was was asked by multiple interviewers why I didn't go to SF State or UC Santa Cruz or similar. They had no idea what U of M was, other than the obvious point that it was a public school in Michigan. People who are not in school or applying to school don't keep up with rankings.

Unfortunately, this is very common. I grew up in semi-rural Louisiana, and when I told folks I was going to apply to Northwestern, everyone thought I was talking about Northwestern State University in Louisiana (the school colors are identical). No one had heard of any Ivy school beyond HYP. However, they had heard of BYU, Michigan, USC, and the like because of football.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not from this area and I heard of William and Mary well before I heard of VT. (Actually I think the first time I heard of it was probably after the shooting.)

Same. Definitely had never heard of VT before moving to VA.

Although I will add, most people don't know schools outside their own state unless the schools are Harvard-level famous. I went to U of M which was highly ranked in my field, tried to get a job in CA, and got a ton of questions about why I couldn't get into the local Cal State.

No you didn't.

I definitely believe this.

I'm the U of M alum. Why would I lie about this? I was interviewing in the Bay Area (where I'm from) and was was asked by multiple interviewers why I didn't go to SF State or UC Santa Cruz or similar. They had no idea what U of M was, other than the obvious point that it was a public school in Michigan. People who are not in school or applying to school don't keep up with rankings.

Unfortunately, this is very common. I grew up in semi-rural Louisiana, and when I told folks I was going to apply to Northwestern, everyone thought I was talking about Northwestern State University in Louisiana (the school colors are identical). No one had heard of any Ivy school beyond HYP. However, they had heard of BYU, Michigan, USC, and the like because of football.

If you are just interested in name recognition, Alabama is going to rank very high. Roll Tide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:W&M is very difficult to get in from Nova. You need to be aiming for 75th percentile which is about a 4.47 and 34 ACt. It’s a phenomenal deal if you are applying from VA and can get in

Thanks for this. Do you know - Is the 4.47 you mentioned the GPA after a student's junior year, the GPA after the first half of senior year, or the final GPA for all of high school? Thx

[Anonymous]

At our FCPS HS, W&M has a 35% admit rate on Naviance (from last year). There was an admit with 3.6 W/1190 SAT which is an outlier. Nearly every applicant with higher than than 4.2 W/1460 SAT got in, it appears.

Naviance data is after 4 years of high school, BTW, which is generally higher than after 3 years of high school

[Anonymous]

Just a note, W&M is expensive for an in-state school. It will be $11k more than VT per year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just a note, W&M is expensive for an in-state school. It will be $11k more than VT per year.

And, for us, it is worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS HS, W&M has a 35% admit rate on Naviance (from last year). There was an admit with 3.6 W/1190 SAT which is an outlier. Nearly every applicant with higher than than 4.2 W/1460 SAT got in, it appears.

Naviance data is after 4 years of high school, BTW, which is generally higher than after 3 years of high school

Applications to W&M went up 23% over last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The two schools are so different, it is ridiculous to compare them. But of course, W&M is far more prestigious. It’s like arguing if UMass or Harvard is more prestigious (not saying at all W&M is comparable to Harvard either, but cmon this is a silly conversation).

Right. Except undergrads are often treated better by their professors at UMass than at Harvard. In this case, W and M far better for liberal arts. VT for undergrad research opportunities in science and engineering. Totally different campus experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our FCPS HS, W&M has a 35% admit rate on Naviance (from last year). There was an admit with 3.6 W/1190 SAT which is an outlier. Nearly every applicant with higher than than 4.2 W/1460 SAT got in, it appears.

Naviance data is after 4 years of high school, BTW, which is generally higher than after 3 years of high school

Applications to W&M went up 23% over last year. [/quote]


Oof! For UVA it jumped something like 35% for EA/ED. Poor kids applying this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The two schools are so different, it is ridiculous to compare them. But of course, W&M is far more prestigious. It’s like arguing if UMass or Harvard is more prestigious (not saying at all W&M is comparable to Harvard either, but cmon this is a silly conversation).

Right. Except undergrads are often treated better by their professors at UMass than at Harvard. In this case, W and M far better for liberal arts. VT for undergrad research opportunities in science and engineering. Totally different campus experience.

William & Mary is very strong in providing undergraduates opportunities to do directed research with faculty, particularly in STEM. Over 80% of graduates have done at least one research project.

[Anonymous]

I grew up in a state in the middle of the country and was aware of William and Mary. I didn’t really hear much about Virginia Tech until I moved to Virginia.

[Anonymous]

I think that W&M plans to raise tuition again

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think that W&M plans to raise tuition again

They didn't raise it at all last year, so probably not surprising. They do freeze tuition for in-state students for all 4 years, I believe.

[Anonymous]

I had never heard of W&M until I moved to Virginia. I heard of VT only in connection with the shooting.

[Anonymous]

Never heard of W&M until after I graduated college and definitely didn't (and don't... sorry W&M alums, it's nothing personal!) consider it superlatively prestigious, as some people are suggesting. I knew of Virginia Tech due to the shooting. That's pretty much it.